Former Ferrari peddler and 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen has signed a contract to drive 12 rounds of the 2010 World Rally Championship for Citroen, bringing to end several weeks of rumours about the Finn’s ambitions for next year.
Raikkonen will drive for the French marque’s junior squad – the imaginative named Junior World Rally Team – with Red Bull backing. His co-driver will be fellow Finn Kaj Lindstrom, who co-drove Tommi Makinen to multiple world titles.
The team will skip Rally New Zealand, the only round in the Championship the team will not be participating in.
"No one wanted to hire me in F1, so now I’m going to say I always wanted to compete in rally, especially in the World Rally Championship at some point in my career," Raikkonen was quoted on the official WRC website. "Thanks to Red Bull, I have the opportunity to drive the best car of the series with the Citroen C4. This is a new but very exciting challenge. For the moment we have a one-year contract and we will see how it goes for the future. I am really looking forward to testing the car and taking the start of the first rally."
[Original image via GripAndHammer]
Richard Bailey
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